It’s currently that time of year…that time when basketball fever aka March Madness hits the nation.<\/p>\n
Don’t have a clue about March Madness? Whether your friends are setting up brackets or you need to limit the awkward small talk about basketball with your co-workers, here are the important trivia facts to keep you in the know on all things\u00a0basketball this month.<\/p>\n
The history of \u201cMarch Madness\u201d<\/strong> What\u2019s the name all about? <\/strong> How does it work?<\/strong> 32 teams are decided by winning their conference tournament, and 36 teams are \u201cat large\u201d teams<\/a> chosen by a selection committee. The same committee ranks (or in basketball lingo, seeds)<\/a> the teams, one through 16, and sorts them into four regions. These teams are from all around the country from large state schools, ivy leagues, and small private universities. There’s a team for everyone to pull for so you can root for your college team (or against your ex-boyfriend’s home state team — we won’t judge).<\/p>\n By the numbers<\/a><\/strong> Facts to help you build your bracket<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Now that we’ve given you the lowdown, it’s time to get your bets on!\u00a0If all else fails, just pick a final team to win it all and act really upset if they don\u2019t make it. At least then you\u2019ll have something to talk about during your lunch break.<\/p>\n Who are you rooting for this March Madness? Weigh in on the comments below!<\/p>\n xx, The FabFitFun Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":"It's currently that time of year...that time when basketball fever aka March Madness hits the ...","author":1477457,"featured_media":100155,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[261],"tags":[],"thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/static.fabfitfun.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/16111329\/chelsea-ferenando-196955-660x400.jpg","thumbnail_url_middle_card":"https:\/\/static.fabfitfun.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/16111329\/chelsea-ferenando-196955.jpg","formated_date":"March 16, 2017","category_name":"Entertainment","category_icon":"https:\/\/d3vodd1ws13xud.cloudfront.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/10113831\/entertainment-2.svg","author_name":"","trending":false,"sponsored":false,"random_color":"#0d8968","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fabfitfun.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100071"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fabfitfun.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fabfitfun.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fabfitfun.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1477457"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fabfitfun.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fabfitfun.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fabfitfun.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fabfitfun.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fabfitfun.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fabfitfun.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nMarch Madness is a college basketball tournament, which was started by the National\u00a0Association of Basketball Coaches in 1939<\/a>\u00a0— and this year’s tournament\u00a0is the 79th edition! Long story short, it’s one of the biggest sporting events in the country. The entirety of last year\u2019s competition averaged 11.3 million viewers, according to Nielsen<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\nIt\u2019s pretty self-explanatory. \u201cMarch Madness\u201d was coined by Illinois teacher and coach Henry V. Porter in 1908<\/a> to describe the excitement and hysteria surrounding high school basketball tournaments. Basically, people were \u201cmad\u201d (in a good way) about basketball. It officially became the March Madness we know and love today in 1982<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\nThe tournament operates on a \u201cone-and-done\u201d<\/a> style. Basically…if you lose, you\u2019re out. The tournament begins with 64 teams. In each round, this number drops, going from 64 to 32 to 16 (the Sweet 16) to 8 (the Elite Eight). The Elite Eight determines the winners in each region. Those winners face off in the Final Four until there\u2019s only one team left standing.<\/p>\n
\n20: \u2028You have 20 days to soak up all the madness, March 14 through April 3.
\n10: \u2028The number of people on the selection committee of teams. So much power in such few hands.
\n9.2 quintillion: \u2028The odds of picking the perfect bracket. This isn\u2019t for the faint of heart!
\n35\u2028: The number of different teams that have won the tournament
\n8\u2028: The lowest seed team to ever win a tournament came in 1985 when Villanova beat Georgetown, 66-64.<\/p>\n\n